D.A. King: Negative review of Rep Kasey Carpenter’s illegal alien instate tuition bill – HB 120
Immigration Politics - A pro-enforcement View February 24, 2021
Written And Submitted By D.A. King
Americans and legal immigrants from most other states would pay higher tuition
It was amazing to see that none of the legislators seemed to note or care that neither “DACA” nor “DACA recipient” appear anywhere in the Carpenter’s tuition amnesty bill.
State Rep Kasey Carpenter (R- Dalton) presented the latest version of his legislation to grant instate tuition to illegal aliens in the House Higher Education Committee last Friday morning. He was on Zoom from in his car parked “on the side of the road” somewhere between the Gold Dome and Oklahoma. He was retrieving flour for one of his restaurants.
It got wackier from there.
Carpenter’s opener was to assure all concerned that his legislation rewarding illegal aliens with lower tuition rates than Americans or legal immigrants from most other states pay “is not a bill about immigration.” He went on to outline HB 120 with “all right, so what this bill does, is it, it, it basically allows DACA students that are in Georgia, they graduated from a Georgia high school, to attend certain colleges and universities in the, in the college system, at an in-state tuition rate.”
‘DACA’ is the acronym for the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy put in place by then candidate for reelection, President Barack Obama. The action being deferred is deportation proceedings.
State Rep Kasey Carpenter (R- Dalton)
It was more than a little amusing to watch Carpenter pepper his online sales pitch with the terms “DACA” and “DACA recipients” as well as in the resulting Q&A with gushing Democrat committee members who had only praise for the concept in their questions. It was equally entertaining to see the long line of witnesses – one who is currently a DACA recipient and one who was – stand up in support of the bill inserting the “DACA recipient” term into their testimony.
It was amazing to see that none of the legislators seemed to note or care that neither “DACA” nor “DACA recipient” appear anywhere in the Carpenter’s tuition amnesty bill.
The entire event would only have been slightly more comical if Rep Carpenter had taken the time to hawk his bill dressed in a wide striped suit with a wink and grin from a used car lot with balloons and a megaphone.
In the current version of his proposed law, Carpenter does have wording that permits illegal aliens to pay less tuition than Americans if they meet “the eligibility criteria set by the United States Department of Homeland Security for deferred action in enforcement of federal immigration laws.” Italics mine.
But, there doesn’t seem to be set eligibility criteria for deferred action on enforcement – it is a discretionary tradition in federal law enforcement and (like DACA) not a result of congressional action. Lines 34 & 35 in HB 120 would be laughed out of a well-informed committee. ‘Journalists’ should not be running stories that report HB 120 somehow applies to “DACA recipients.” It doesn’t.
Deferred action is not DACA. Sometimes it is difficult to decide if things that are just plain screwy are a result of ignorance or intent. Deferred action on immigration enforcement is outside of DACA. How far outside? John Lennon obtained deferred action on immigration enforcement in the 1970’s.
All co-signers are not visible online, but at last check with the House clerk’s office, Carpenter’s instate tuition bill has more Democrat cosponsors than Republicans.
As is, HB120 is a hustle that is fully dependent on the oversupply of immigration ignorance on the part of most of the legislators who govern a state with more “undocumented workers” than live in Arizona. This writer started working with state lawmakers on drafting and perfecting illegal immigration legislation in 2005. HB 120 would not have been allowed a hearing in a Republican – run committee ten years ago.
We were happy to post a very critical analysis of the debut of HB120 along with facts the media is suppressing and fully expected to see changes in the bill as a result.
None of the above is intended to indicate certainty that the bill won’t be passed out of the House Higher Education Committee and onto the floor.
I got a sense of the determination to advance the bill in an early morning discussion with the committee Chairman Chuck Martin (R- Alpharetta) in his office when my request for a copy of any committee substitute language was first dodged then tacitly refused.
Read HB 120 for yourself
The Committee Substitute version presented on Feb 19, 2021 in the Higher Education Committee is not online and will not be posted on the House website unless it is passed out. I have scanned in and posted the paper version (with my scribbled notes) I was given by a friend who was able to get a copy from the Chairman’s staffers.
Here is a link to the original language. A Fiscal note for HB 120 is available here.
We have posted a link to the official video of the entire Friday hearing and a transcript of Rep Carpenter’s presentation on the Dustin Inman Society website. Contact information for Rep Carpenter here.
Space does not allow a list of all the problems with HB 120. But it should be mentioned that ‘DACA recipients’ are nevertheless illegal aliens according to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Even the liberal AJC reported that one.
D.A. King is president of the Dustin Inman Society
$100 million annual revenue source should not be ignored
Politics January 6, 2020
Authored by D.A. King, the below essay originally ran on the subscription
website, Insider Advantage Georgia and is reposted here with permission
$100 million annual revenue source should not be
ignored
Written by D.A. King
Georgia voters should be asking why all concerned under the Gold Dome are
apparently ignoring a proven successful process that would create a new
revenue stream estimated to add about $100 million to the Georgia coffers
annually.
With current budget woes producing headlines like “Hundreds of jobs, programs,
would be slashed from Georgia budget” and reports that Gov. Kemp wants to cut
$300 million from the budget this year, $100 million in new annual revenue
seems like real money.
The new revenue stream would come without costing Georgia tax-filers a penny.
This writer originally reported here on legislation from Rep Jeff Jones (R –
Brunswick) in late 2016 that would mimic a working system in Oklahoma that has
added to that state’s budget since 2010.
“Rep. Jones has found a way to tap into the enormous amount of money that is
sent out of Georgia every year without going anywhere near the Georgia
economy – and the best news is that the majority of that money comes from drug
dealers and illegal aliens!
What is it? A small, 100% refundable fee on funds wired out of Georgia, that
taxpayers could easily recoup on their state tax returns. In simple terms, it goes
like this: Let’s say you wire $1000.00 to Aunt Martha in South Carolina to help
with her upcoming surgery. When you send the helpful payment out, the wire
service would add on a small extra fee (around 2%) – which you would get back
when you file your tax return or a simple, short form explaining that you are not
required to file a return because of low income. The wire transfer agency would
be compensated for the collection effort.
The same fee would be added to the money that illegal drug dealers send out of
Georgia. The government of Mexico alone received about $25 billion American
dollars last year, mostly from its citizens living here in the good old USA. That is
more money than Mexico made on oil revenues.
Georgia has more illegal aliens than Arizona. (and many more than Oklahoma)
We don’t have figures on how many American dollars are sent out of Georgia by
drug dealers, but Atlanta is a known terminus for that insidious organized crime.
The income for the state in this genius plan comes from the fact that the huge
majority of illegal aliens and drug dealers do not file a tax return. Get it?” is what
we wrote more three years ago.
Repeat note to media skeptics: Everyone who files a state tax return or special
short form can get their fee back.
While Rep Jones has worked hard to accommodate stakeholders since 2016 and
polished and tweaked his revenue bill, the basics have not changed. According
to the anti-immigration enforcement Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Georgia
is home to more illegal aliens than green card holders and the illicit drug
business is booming in the Peach State.
The original estimates of the revenue dollar amount have doubled since the bill
was written due to changes in the language.
One feature that has not changed is the wire transfer withholding would apply to
everyone who wired money out of Georgia, regardless of its final destination.
To illustrate the constant growth in revenue this idea has produced in Oklahoma
since it became law, we posted collections by year since it began here from the
Oklahoma Tax Commssion.
We detect media resistance
David North at the Center for Immigration Studies also wrote about Jones’ bill in
2016 and that write-up was sent to the AJC’s Jim Galloway that year. The
resulting excitedly inaccurate AJC coverage ran with the headline “First Trump-
era bill could slap a tax on cash sent to foreign homes.”
The AJC reported that the fully refundable wire transfer fee was a “tax” and that it
would only apply to foreigners sending money to their home countries. And they
didn’t seem to like the idea that it would affect illegal aliens.
We hope the governor and concerned, responsible House members will take a
hard look at Jones’ $100 million a year revenue bill for themselves – maybe even
give it a hearing. And maybe sign on as cosponsors. It’s HB532.
You read it here first. Again.
D.A. King is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society @DAKDIS
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Temporary foreign nationals drivers license “proper” ID at Georgia polls
Opinion November 6, 2018
Written By: D.A. King
This seems far, far away from “voter suppression.” The drivers license Georgia issues to
non-citizens – including illegal aliens who have already been ordered deported – is
acceptable and “proper identification” when casting a ballot.
This, according to multiple staffers at the main office of the Cobb Board of Elections and
Registration office in Marietta when asked multiple times by this early voter last week. To
get an answer, I had to explain what a limited term license is.
For those who are not well versed in the topic, the drivers license DDS issues to foreigners
is labeled “LIMITED TERM” across the top, which is the only difference between it and a U.S.
citizen’s drivers license.
Georgia’s temporary “Limited Term” drivers license. Photo: DDS.
The acceptance appears to be in compliance with Georgia law (OCGA 21-2-417) which
merely says “proper identification shall consist of any one of the following: A Georgia
driver’s license which was properly issued by the appropriate state agency;…”
This brings to mind the several attempts in the last few years under the Gold Dome to
clarify the limitations of the limited term driver license, which, generally, is supposed to be
valid for the period of an alien’s visa.
In the 2017 General Assembly, House Rep Alan Powell introduced a bill to add “INELIGIBLE
VOTER” – which was a compromise to his original language, which would have added the
term “NON CITIZEN” to the non-citizens drivers license. Powell came under attack from the
anti-borders lobby and their media allies and his attempt at driver’s license/voter ID
reform died in the Republican-controlled House.
More than 20,000 aliens who have received a deferral in deportation proceedings or who
have already been ordered deported also hold the same limited term license according to
information from DDS early this year.
In 2016, the state Senate passed a bill sponsored by Senator Josh McKoon that would have
marked the limited term driver’s license held by this group with “NO LAWFUL STATUS.”
McKoon rightly contended his bill would help prevent voter fraud and terrorism. The
driving and ID credentials are also accepted as ID to enter federal buildings and to board
airliners in America’s airports.
Including the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), corporate -funded
opponents argued such reform would “stigmatize” people and represented a ‘Scarlett
Letter’ for “immigrants.” The legislation died in the House.
For this writer, the lunacy that a drivers license designed and intended for foreign nationals
is accepted as valid ID to vote in Georgia is surpassed by the fact that literally no official I
have ever spoken to at my Cobb polling place over the years – supervisors included – had
ever even heard of a “limited term” drivers license.
For a memorable first-hand education, readers may want to ask about this when they vote.
Readers who care about vote security may want to ask their state reps and state senators
about this one.
D.A. King is president of the Dustin Inman Society
Editor’s note: A version of this essay recently ran on the subscription website, Insider
Advantage Georgia